DISPATCHES

BANKRUPTCY REFORM ADVANCES. The Senate Dec. 7 voted 70-28
to make it more difficult for people to seek bankruptcy protection
from their debts. Consumer groups complained that the bill remains
too harsh on consumers who fall into financial difficulty because of
illness, job loss or divorce. President Clinton threatened to veto
the bill, which was a major priority of banks and credit card
companies. Credit industry officials made $6 million in political
donations in the first six months of the year as 17 Democrats joined
53 Republicans to pass the bill. If they hold on, that's three more
than the two-thirds required to override a veto.

The president could kill the bill with a "pocket veto" by holding
onto it less than 10 days, if Congress adjourns within that period,
but Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), a backer of the legislation,
urged Clinton to sign the bill or at least give Congress a chance to
override his veto, since there at least are a few consumer
protections in this version. "President Bush might sign a tougher
bill without the consumer protections in it," Grassley said,
according to the Washington Post. To contact your senator,
call 202-224-3121.

SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS ARBITRATION. The Supreme Court in a
5-4 vote on Dec. 10 ruled that corporations can require their
customers to give up their right to take disputes to court and
instead put complaints through the expensive course of arbitration.
The court decided against Larketta Randolph, an Alabama woman whose
complaint began when she disputed a $15 charge in her mobile-home
financing agreement.

A federal judge dismissed Randolph's 1996 suit against Green Tree
Financial Corp. of Opelika, Ala., because in signing the original
contract, Randolph agreed an arbitrator would resolve any disputes.
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta revived the case last
year, saying Green Tree didn't disclose the potential costs of
arbitration when it signed the agreement with Randolph. However Chief
Justice William Rehnquist wrote "The 'risk' that Randolph will be
saddled with prohibitive costs is too speculative to justify the
invalidation of an arbitration agreement.'' The majority included
Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Sandra Day O'Connor and
Anthony Kennedy. Corporations are increasingly requiring arbitration
to limit the rights of customers and employees.

SAFE HIGHWAYS: TRADE BARRIER. A trade tribunal on Nov. 29
ruled that the US is violating NAFTA by prohibiting unsafe Mexican
trucks from roaming freely throughout the US. Under NAFTA rules, if
the US does not open the border to Mexican trucks, it faces trade
sanctions. Public Citizen urged the US government to seek a reversal
of this interim ruling and if it stands, accept the trade sanctions
rather than compromise the safety of US highways. US Department of
Transportation data show that Mexican carriers licensed to operate in
the US are more than three times as likely to have safety
deficiencies as US carriers. Common safety problems include faulty
brakes, tires, taillights and brake lights. In Mexico, trucks are
allowed to carry heavier loads. Mexican truck drivers have no
hours-of-service limitations compared to the limits set on US drivers
of 10 hours of continuous driving. While operating in the US, Mexican
trucks are supposed to comply with US standards, but the US does not
have enough inspectors to ensure that trucks crossing the border
follow US regulations. "This ruling is particularly galling because
it allows unelected bureaucrats essentially to overturn American laws
and safety standards," said Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook,
the top auto safety official in the Carter administration. "It is
also appalling that the ruling was based on trade alone; the panel
refused to hear evidence about safety and the risks that the trucks
pose to the American public." See www.citizen.org or call Public
Citizen's Global Trade Watch at 202-546-4996.

BIG BIZ THREATENS DEMOCRACY. Multinational corporations
threaten democracy, the Institute for Policy Studies found. Of the
world's largest economies, 51 are now companies and 49 are countries,
the anti-globalization think tank reported. Trade and investment
liberalization have given corporations ''increasing levels of
economic and political clout that are out of balance with the
tangible benefits they provide society,'' it says. The study also
notes that sales of the world's 200 biggest companies -- from No. 1
General Motors to No. 200 Sanwa Bank -- are growing faster than
overall economic growth and together top the combined economies of
all but the 10 largest countries. Big companies but employ fewer than
1% of all workers and pay proportionately little in US taxes, while
racking up sales that account for 27.5% of GDP. See the study at
www.ips-dc.org or call Sarah Anderson at 202-234-9382.

FREE TRADE CONFRONTATION. Heads of state, finance
ministers, and trade ministers from every country in the western
hemisphere (except Cuba) will meet in Quebec City April 18-22, 2001,
for the Summit of the Americas to draw up the text for a hemispheric
free trade pact known as the Free Trade Area of the Americas, also
known as "NAFTA on steroids." It would create the largest free trade
market in the world and further the corporate agenda at the expense
of workers, communities, and the environment. Activists throughout
the Americas are gearing up to challenge and protest this latest step
in corporate globalization. For more information contact the Toronto
Mobilization for Global Justice, 416-516-7535 or see
(www.mob4glob.ca), (www.cmaq.net) or (www.oqp2001.org).

MINOR PARTY VICTORIES. Four Progressives were elected to
the Vermont state House on Nov. 7. In New Hampshire, Steve
Vaillancourt was elected as a Libertarian to the state House.
According to unofficial and incomplete returns compiled by the
Ballot Access News, Greens had the third highest presidential
vote with 2.7 million (2.71%), followed by Reform's 442,368 (0.43%),
Libertarian's 379,380 (0.37%), Constitution's 101,278 (0.1%), Natural
Law's 89,236 (0.09%), Socialist Workers' 10,691 (0.01%), Workers
World's 4,347, Socialist's 4,242 and 9,376 going to various other
parties. The Libertarians qualified for continued ballot status in 25
states, followed by the Greens in 22, Constitution in 13 and Reform
and Natural Law in 12 states.

FDA OKS RADAR FOOD. The US Food and Drug Administration on
Nov. 29 approved high-level radiation "treatments" of fruit and
vegetable juice despite complaints that irradiated food may not be
safe for human consumption. Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and
Environment Program requested a hearing by the agency (see
www.citizen.org). Earlier, the FDA legalized the irradiation of eggs
and sprouting seeds despite questions raised by the agency's own
scientists. In past years, the FDA allowed flour, spices, fruit,
vegetables, poultry, pork and beef to be irradiated despite
well-documented side effects such as nutrient deficiency, corrupted
flavor and texture, and evidence suggesting that irradiated food is
harmful to human health.

CLINTON SCRIMPS ON FED WORKERS. About 1.8 million federal
workers will get a 3.7% pay increase, President Clinton has decided,
and not the 15% boost they could have gotten under a formula intended
to keep federal pay levels in line with those in the private sector.
Clinton said giving government workers the 15% increase would be a
risky step away from budgetary discipline. Bobby Harnage, president
of the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest
federal workers' union, said limiting the increase to 3.7% guarantees
that the federal government will be an employer of last resort for
the nation's most qualified workers. This, coupled with increases in
health insurance premiums, aggravates the government's problem
recruiting and retaining employees, he said.